REMEMBRANCE
MEMORIALS & MONUMENTS

A memorial to the staff and children of Weald House killed in June 1944 when a German Doodlebug Flying Bomb hit the building.

In June 1944the evacuation of children under 16 from London begun due to the number being injured & killed by the increasing frequency of German V1 Flying Bombs hitting the capital & suburbs.

The worst single incident resulting in the deaths of young children was that at Crockham Hill near Westerham, Kent, that are commemorated on the memorial above. In 1944,
Little Mariners at Froghole, Crockham Hill, was being used by the London County Council as a home for evacuated children, but Little Mariners was severely damaged by incendiary bombs, and the staff and children were then moved to Weald House (now rebuilt and called Hoplands) which is situated on the edge of Crockham Hill Common. At 0337 hours on Friday 30 June1944, a German V1 flying bomb was hit by anti-aircraft fire from a battery situated on the North Downs, and had been badly damaged before it could reach its intended target of London. In theory the flying bomb should have either exploded when hit, or landed somewhere in the miles of open fields with no loss of life, but for some reason on its final descent it was thought to have been carried along on warm air thermals, and when crashing at Mariners Hill it had struck a tree which then deflected into Weald House. Twenty-two children and eight female staff were killed in the tragedy.